FANANG DIATLA SELF HELP PROJECT (ORPHANED AND VULNERABLE CHILDREN)





Name of the project

Fanang Diatla self Help Project (Children's centre)

Description of the project

Fanang Diatla project is a development project because it brings changes to the lives of poor and vulnerable children as well those affected or infected with HIV/AIDS. Through the project, children have the opportunity to be educated and have access to clean water, a place to sleep and food. It is about social responsibility which helps homeless children to better there future, through the education they receive. This initiative contributes to the children's development by educating children who are not fortunate to receive such privileges in the areas which they are residing in. The project improves the well-being of the children; as well as their self-esteem which has been lost, due to certain circumstances such as; not having a place to call home or food to eat. This organisation is a developing one, because everyone or every citizen has a chance to contribute and help out in means of making a change to a child’s life. The organisation focuses on addressing issues of health and poverty and operates a community-care centre. Home-based care services are rendered to sick patients and vulnerable households and the organisation supports OVC through early childhood development centres and homework and holiday clubs. The project operates numerous income-generating activities including a bakery, fence and shoe making, and poultry farming. The AFSA supports their community-care centre activities.

Fanang Diatla provides the children with three meals a day, a centre with carers to help with arising needs, life skills and supports the children with their education. In addition to being a single mother with five of her own children. The children help create an income by making and selling juice and mango achar.
This can change a community’s perception about children who are less fortunate by working together as a community and bringing community growth to all. It is also a development project because it develops the children that come from less fortunate circumstances where they do not have many resources that are of a necessity to them. Fanang Diatla gives these less fortunate children the opportunity to make something of their lives by offering them education which is one of the lacking necessities in these children's homes. Children are taught how to take care of themselves so that they can develop and become independent people in order to have a bright future to look forward to. Fanang Diatla is a grasping and development project that helps children who are poor and encounter some social problems by being given an opportunity to explore their dreams and having a brighter future of which every child deserves. This project gives the children of Limpopo an opportunity to have the basic essentials that every child needs. Many of the children have either lost their parents or been taken away because of the lack of resources available to them. Fanang Diatla is a safe haven for most of these kids too. Not only does it keep them safe it also provides a stable home for them in which they can learn that crime is not the answer to their problems, as it can end up landing them in serious trouble. Fanang Diatla is a self help project that aims at helping poor vulnerable children. The children that come to the shelter are given food, shelter, warmth and most importantly, education. The children in this shelter are given a second chance in life to better themselves and become successful people, who can reach their full potential because they too were given the fair chance to prove themselves through the love and support that they are given by the mother of the shelter.


The theory underpinning the project

Underpinning is a technique used in construction to reinforce or strengthen an existing building's foundation, but in this the underpinning theory will be off that the fanang diatla project is constructing and shaping the lives of the orphans by means of education and knowledge, this theory will develop the society of these orphans in a way that they will be able to better their lives despite the fact that the grew up without parents. The main theory that underpins this project is grassroot development. This is because children are helped from an early age so that they can grow up to become that which they wish to become. Helping these children will also mean that they can become an investment to the country because they can become very successful as they grow up and in-turn, help the country as they work and contribute to the country's growing economy.



Grassroots development theory- basic needs approach


The Fanang Diatla project (Children's centre) is about developing children by providing primary care to homeless children. It is a direct development to the poorest and vulnerable in society as it provides basic needs. Maslow's Hierarchy of needs categories basic needs under physiological needs which include shelter, food, clothing and many more (Phaswana, 2011:1). Therefore, this project meets the requirements of Grassroots development theory by focusing on a basic needs approach in the micro-level theory. Grassroots development theory can be referred to as the participation of the people and the government in developing the community or improving it. They however spot the need of change in the community and come up with solutions. This theory is also a bottom-up as it helps the community members to acquire possible skills so that they are regarded as assets or investments to the economy in the future.

The theory supports the need to help underprivileged community members so that they acquire a good standard of living, which will result in economic stability. The Fanang Diatla is a project proving basic needs for the orphans and homeless children. One may classify it under micro level because only few people benefit and it is not known worldwide. It provides basic needs for children like food, and shelter. This theory can be seen as a measure in helping the less fortunate and people who are underprivileged in conjunction with non-governmental organisations in community and society growth with giving a hand in improving the lives of people who are experiencing drastic social issues in their environments and are in need of help with education, shelter, food, clothing and other things that can be of good use in making their lives better.

This theory adds emphasis on progress in social-economic, welfare and education systems, stemming from the local level or rather micro level and eventually to the macro and more extensive structures, for instance the national or regional or even global level. Grassroots development theory encourages decentralisation. This project emphasises decentralisation in the sense that it focuses on small communities. With the help of multi choice and Department of Health and Social Development new technology has been provided, so that the children are prepared for the life ahead when they leave the home. This home is now place that the children can call home. By focusing on their attention to the children, they are targeting the community at a micro level. The Fanang Diatla project is investing time, money and resources to improve the lives of the children which will in turn improve the situation of that community. The theory that underpins this specific development project is mainly grassroots development theory which is also known as the "trickling down" to help the poorest people in communities, so that they can too experience some economic development which will lead to improvement of standards in poor communities. This project focuses on grassroot development by meeting the basic human needs of food, shelter, clothing, and education. The children living in this shelter are given these basic needs so that they can survive and be able to better themselves. This project also focuses on decentralisation because it focuses on the bottom of the chain which is assistance at community level. The people in the community are put in mind so that they can be able to better themselves so that the whole community will prosper in the end. The above two pictures indicates how the project has been improved; the first picture shows how the project started and the second picture shows how the project improved after being in partnership with Multichoice and The Department of Health and Social Development.

Advantages of the project

The project benefits the children by providing a shelter filled with love, care, safety and security. Importantly, with their best interest at heart. It gives them a second family that they will always rely on. These children have an opportunity to realise their dreams through education and with the support that the Fanang Diatla Orphanage home provides to them. They are investing a better life, not only to the children but to their development as future economic participants of the country. They are tempering with evolution by changing a culture of poverty, instability, illiteracy to a culture of stability, wealth and literacy. These children will grow up knowing the value of human life 'Ubuntu' by reflecting on their own lives and how they can change other people's lives for the better. This project is very beneficial to the children because the Fanang Diatla Children's Centre is also an initiative which works in progress to improve and change lives of children who are vulnerable and less fortunate. The other benefits of this project are that it encourages children to be more participant in the quest for education and not resulting to drugs and alcohol which can ruin their futures. This project can also be seen as a stepping stone to children who are not exposed to such things as being cared for,education,shelter and so on that can formulate them a brighter future. It helps orphans and vulnerable children by giving them hope and it letting the children to feel loved and cared for. This project does not only affect the children physically but also emotionally by providing a home full of love and peace. It also reduces the number of street-kids and the child-headed families in South Africa. The project makes a difference in children's life, because they give them opportunity to be educated and be independent in their lives. Through this project the rate of poverty and homeless children and uneducated children is very becoming low. They are able to do everything that any kid can do. This project has benefits and not disadvantages.

The benefit of this project is that this place gives homeless children a place to call home and educates them. They will be able to apply for jobs, because they will have the qualification and not result to crime. They will be able to make a difference in the community through inter-generational contracts. Making South Africa a better place for all. The Fanang Diatla project is, in all aspects, beneficial towards the children they reach out to and help and towards the community in which it is situated. In the development of this project, all people involved have made it their priority to cater to the needs of these underprivileged children. They provide basic necessities such as shelter; food, clothes, love, guidance and protection just to mention a few. It enables these children to strive towards a better future, gives them a variety of opportunities and makes various facilities available to use at their disposal which were once unattainable. They offer these children their full support and do not limit their abilities. Here, these children are able to grow and develop which will enable them to make a contribution in their community. With the values they acquire through this project, it can also hopefully inspire them in some way, to help children who were put in the same position or similar situations. This project benefits children by providing a stable environment for children to live a stable and happy life.

They are allowed to have a 'normal' childhood and not have to worry about survival and other sorts of problems that they would be worried about if they were still living on the street. Children and youth need to be pushed in the right direction as they cannot always see what is good for them and their future. By living at the children’s home, they will get exactly that when it comes to the importance of education. The benefits include providing security, by giving them a sense of belonging. Fanang Diatla gave these children a reason to believe that impossible is possible, because through their project they got second homes and mostly the love they need. These children will however be our future leaders as they are investments to a great economy and a better country. They will also give back to the community with the skills and knowledge they acquired through education, this project also benefits the children in a way that it keeps them occupied so that they stay away from unacceptable behaviour. The children will grow up to be better individuals who will stand up for what is right and educate their young ones about good norms, values and behaviour. The advantages of this project are that many children who come from disadvantaged backgrounds will be able to be provided with the necessities they need in order to survive like other children can. These children are given an opportunity to reach their full potential because they are provided with education warmth and shelter. Helping these children while they are still very young can help to mould them into successful adults in the future which will in turn help the country because they will be working and contributing to the economy's growth. The advantages of this project are that the children who are helped get the chance to experience a loving home where they can feel safe and nurtured. Another advantage is that more children will be off the streets and instead of doing bad things like drugs and alcohol, they are in a home where they can get education and make something better out of their lives.Through this project some of the children who completed their matric are now able to further their studies in tertiary level. They encouraged them to be independent by helping them to get sponsors to help them through their studies.



Disadvantages of the project

The disadvantage of this project is that it needs constant contributions from the public in order to survive. If there are no contributions, the shelter cannot be run effectively or successful. Therefore, this will impact on the children negatively as the people that run the shelter might not be able to afford taking care of the children. This is also disadvantageous because at the orphanage when a child reaches the age of 18, because they haveto make space for the younger childern to also have a home and education. therefore they have to move out of the orphanage and be independent beings. This is bad because it might happen that when a child reaches that age they may have not yet found employment and therefore cannot be able to support themselves, they might also be mentally ready for work. Since they do not have families to go back to, they end up in the streets and they may turn to crime or prostitution in order to support themselves.Another disadvantage will be of finances, if the projects does not get enough funding from the government and the private sectors do not contribute then the project will suffer in terms of facilities and they will not be able to cater for the children and soon the facility will be over flooded and there will not be enough to cater for the children will result in the fact that the older children will have to leave even though they do not have a safe to go. With the number of orphans and vulnerable children growing by the day, everything must be done to take care of these children. A partnership between NGOs and government is necessary. It is something we need to explore further. The disadvantage of this project is that it is a non-profit organisation, therefore, it strongly depends on the public's contribution in order for it to be sustained. If the public do not contribute anything or not enough contributions are coming through then the shelter will not be able to run any longer, it will be forced to shut down and the children will be left destitute.




Developed by:

Mosheshe L 201119929
Marais D.L 201048449
Tuswa J.L 201118619
Milton T.A 201135427
Mahlatji T.M 201139853
Shongwe N.D 200907283
Ndobe T.C 201180249
Mayaba N.N 201170434
Sefike M.R.T 201111646
Njapha N.P 201142007
Yamile F 201134814
Nke D.O 201132363
TLOU IN 201037771
Scott C.K 201018669
ROD. Mfebe 200936167